Page - 218 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

218 BettyArndt ofwater, as it was necessary to damup thewater, they could also cause trouble for fish (and fishermen)andfornavigation.ThetownofLüneburg, for instance, retainedtheright todisman- tle threewatermills on the IlmenauRiver should they cause problems for shipping the salt of the profitable Lüneburg salt-works or the necessary supply of rawmaterial to this end; they also exercised this right.21 Wells Foralongwhile, theresponsibility for freshwater laywiththeindividualhousehold.22 InGöttin- gen, citizens built wells in the yards behind their houses.23 The archaeological investigations have shown different types of wells. The oldest known ones of the 12th century are also the smallest indiameter.Anexample fromRoteStraße3424wasonly80cmindiameter. Itwasbuilt of broken limestone of different and irregular sizes, forming a polygonal cylinder, and dates to 1260 or shortly after. It was placed behind the house in the yard. In 1414, the well was closedand coveredbyan extensionof thebuilding and thusneeded to be replaced. Thenew well was placed again in the yard behind the house, butwas larger, with an inner diameter of 1.10m.All examplesof the 15th centuryareabout thiswidth.Thiswellwasdugwitha large tapered building pit. Mostwells had to be dug up to 8.50mdeep to reach the groundwater flow. All wells in Göttingen lay behind the houses, with a distance to the street of 11.50m to 14.30m. If this reflects a building regulation, asH. Plath already found in 1950 forHanover,25 would be a subject for further investigation. In Hanover, all wells were placed 60 (medieval) feet26 away from the street. Some exampleswere built in an exact round circular form, forwhich the stones hadbeen chiselled concave on the inside, as is the case of an early post-medieval example from Rote Straße 3027 (Fig.4). Some long stones reach out far to the outside to function as guides (in a Fig. 4:Göttingen, awell of local lime- stonebehind the building inRote Straße30. Thewell isbuiltoverawood- en frame. 21 Petersen–Reitemeier 2017, 287. 22 Dirlmeier 1981, 151. 154. 23 Anoverview is given inArndt 2004b. 24 FStNr.02/08and02/10;Arndt 1997, 226f. 25 Plath 1978, 16. 26 Plath 1978 gives 32.50cm for themedieval footmeasure,whichmeans thewells inHanoverwere builtwith a distanceof 19.50m frombuilding line. 27 FStNr.02/06;Arndt 2004b, 138.